In recent years, resuscitation techniques have led to a considerable increase in the number of patients who survive severe brain injuries. Some patients recover in the first days after the injury others die quickly. Others, however, recover more slowly through different stages before fully or partially recovering consciousness. Patients having consciousness disorders present major challenges concerning the diagnosis, prognosis, daily care and treatment.
Disorders of consciousness include coma and the vegetative state (VS). Patients in coma have complete failure of the arousal system with no spontaneous eye opening and are unable to be awakened by application of vigorous sensory stimulation. VS is characterized by the complete absence of behavioral evidence for self or environmental awareness. There is preserved capacity for spontaneous or stimulus-induced arousal, evidenced by sleep-wake cycles.
Some patients with severe alteration in consciousness have neurologic findings that do not meet criteria for VS. These patients demonstrate discernible behavioral evidence of consciousness but remain unable to reproduce this behavior consistently. This condition is referred to here as the minimally conscious state (MCS). MCS is distinguished from VS by the partial preservation of conscious awareness.
Non-invasive interventions have been used to improve the functional level MSC patients. Said interventions are based on neuromodulation which includes the broad category of “transdermal electrical stimulation,” referring to the electrical stimulation of the nervous system (brain, cranial nerves, peripheral nerves, etc.) through a subject's skin. Specific examples of transdermal electric stimulation (hereinafter “TES”) may include transcranial stimulation, for example, through scalp electrodes and have been used to affect brain function in humans in the form of transcranial alternating current stimulation, transcranial direct current stimulation (hereinafter “tDCS”), cranial electrotherapy stimulation, and transcranial random noise stimulation.
Despite several research and clinical trial on non-pharmacological treatments, there is currently no effective standardized treatment and no evidence-based treatment for patients suffering from consciousness disorder, in particular minimal consciousness state (MCS).
The aim of the present invention is to provide a solution to overcome at least part of the above mentioned disadvantages. The invention thereto provides a treatment method as described below and as defined by the appended claims.